Natalia Schwien (she/they) is an herbalist, wildlife rescue & rehabilitation apprentice, and a Ph.D. candidate in the Study of Religion at Harvard University. Her research is around expanded ontologies of personhood, posthuman ethics, and diction in scientific discourse. She concurrently serves as the Associate Director for Harvard Divinity School's Program for the Evolution of Spirituality under Dr. Dan McKanan. The aim of the program is to support the scholarly study of emerging spiritual movements, marginalized spiritualities, and the innovative edges of established religious traditions. She formerly held the position of Sustainability Specialist at Middlebury College's Franklin Environmental Center at Hillcrest in Vermont.
At Harvard, she leads "Interspecies Dialogues: A Conversation Group Exploring Animism, Post-humanism, and Entangled Roots of Interrelation" which regularly features a variety of scholars, writers, scientists, filmmakers, and animacy practitioners. At Harvard Divinity School’s Center for the Study of World Religions, she and Rachael Petersen, MDiv '24 co-lead the “Thinking with Plants and Fungi” Initiative, which includes the Plant Consciousness Reading Group. As a practicing herbalist, Natalia has over 20 years of experience.
In spring 2019, she completed her Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation coursework and exam, before apprenticing in Vermont and Massachusetts. She currently volunteers with Newhouse Wildlife Rescue in Chelmsford, MA.
Natalia holds a Master of Theological Studies degree from Harvard Divinity School with a focus on the intersection of ecology and spiritual practice as well as a Master of Arts degree from Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English. Her research at Middlebury focused on fantasy literature and sci-fi, specifically on how authors designate personhood in their worldbuilding.
Before transitioning into environmental spheres, she was a member of the inaugural artistic team for Brooklyn's National Sawdust and the founding Director for its in-home recording label, FKA Via Records. During her time with National Sawdust/VisionIntoArt, she produced performances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MASS MoCA, the Park Avenue Armory, Miami Art Basel, Pioneer Works, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and more. She graduated with a BFA in Film from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2013. Her work has been featured in New York Magazine, The New Yorker, Time Out New York, Vice, For The Wild, and more. She releases music under the moniker Ellayo.